Being There
by EasonChow1216
Summary: It's Halloween, and Nagisa has decided to bring the whole swim team to a haunted mansion at a local theme park. However, Makoto is terrified of the idea. What can Haruka do to comfort Makoto? [OneShot Fluffy MakoHaru, second time writing a fanfic.]


**Being There**

Today is October 31st, better known as the day of Halloween, where children go in costume from house to house, asking for tricks or treats. Ghosts, ghouls and evil spirits are believed to roam the streets during Halloween. This is also the day Makoto hates the most out of the entire year, and is the sole reason why he is so afraid of ghosts.

And it doesn't help that the whole swim team has been "invited" to go to a haunted house tonight by none other than Nagisa during lunch today.

"Ne~ Let's go to the theme park tonight, they opened a haunted mansion today and ONLY for today!" Nagisa said enthusiastically as he held out a promotional poster from the theme park.

"Scavenger hunt in a scary haunted mansion full of ghosts and ghouls..." Rei read out as he continued, "The team who successfully finds all the items on the checklist will earn a prize...but, what kind of prize is it?" he asked.

"It's not written on the poster...but it still sounds fun! Let's go to the haunted house!" Nagisa whined.

"Can't be bothered." was all Haruka said, having no interest in the idea of going to a haunted house.

"Eh...don't be like that Haru-chan, let's go together!" Nagisa was continuing to beg when he suddenly got an idea.

"Think about it Haru-chan, the prize might be something you wanted, like an indoor gym membership! If you win the scavenger hunt you can swim whenever you want!" Nagisa said happily.

Haruka's eyes sparkled when he heard the word "swim," he was tempted to join now. "F-fine," he muttered.

"That's the spirit Haru-chan!" Nagisa smiled before he asked "Mako-chan what about you?"

"S-Sorry, w-what?" Makoto stuttered, already thinking about the horrifying things that might happen if he went with them.

"Mako-chan, let's go to the haunted house together!" Nagisa said joyfully.

"E-eh... I-I'm not really into t-those things... and..." Makoto continued to stutter; he's seriously scared of anything that is paranormal-related; but when he looked at Nagisa's pouting face, he had no choice but to say, "O-okay, I'll g-go." He smiled weakly as he said it.

"Yay! Thanks Mako-chan!" Nagisa said happily before proceeding to ask Rei to come with him.

"Makoto, are you okay with this? You don't have to come if you don't want to..." Haruka simply said.

"I'm fine Haru... as long as you're there," Makoto said softly, blushing a little.

"Don't say such embarrassing things," Haruka retorted, but he was still smiling.

* * *

When the boys arrived at the theme park later that evening, it was packed with people. Children were dressed up as different characters such as Frankenstein, Dracula and Hazel roam around the park while their parents follow them closely.

"There's the haunted mansion!" Nagisa pointed out at the rather horrifying mansion on the horizon.

The mansion was huge. Skulls, wizard caps and candles alike decorated the mansion. In front of the huge building was a small graveyard, some of which had been dug up. Overall, it was an impressive looking haunted mansion.

Makoto hid behind Haruka the entire time during the walk to the mansion, afraid of anything that might pop out from the scenery. Haruka on the other hand was completely fine, expressionless as always. Meanwhile Nagisa and Rei were bickering on whether ghosts exist or not.

Soon after they reached the entrance of the mansion, where a small group of people were lining up to get into the mansion.

"Okay! Now we have to form two teams!" Nagisa said as he held Rei's hand.

"Nagisa-kun, what are yo-" Rei tried to say but was cut off by Nagisa "I'm going with Rei-chan!"

"Then I'll go with Makoto," Haruka simply said.

"Okay! Good luck Haru-chan, Mako-chan! May the best team win!" Nagisa said happily as they walked inside the mansion.

"Oi, Makoto, we can still quit if you're not comfortable with it," Haruka said softly.

"A-as long as you're there for me, I-I'll be fine," Makoto stuttered a little as he tried to reassure Haruka.

"I told you not to say such embarrassing things..." Haruka retorted, blushing a little as he took Makoto's hand before going in the mansion with him.

Inside the mansion itself wasn't so scary at all. In fact it is pretty fancy, at least in the main foyer. There was a table in the centre of the main foyer, on it was a checklist, a floorplan of the mansion and a flashlight. Makoto took the checklist and the map while Haru took the flashlight.

"Well...let's see..." Makoto said trying to read the checklist, "Here are the things we have to find if we want to earn the prize..."

"Located beneath the heart is the key that will end of all this misery," Makoto read out, "Hidden in a maze of looking glass is a stone that represents truth and sincerity."

"Cheesy riddles," Haruka shrugged as he continued, "We should focus on finding the key first."  
He finished before going through one of the doors randomly

"W-wait, Haru!" Makoto panicked chasing after Haruka.

* * *

The hallway they were in was pitch black and Makoto swore he saw a pair of red glowing eyes at the other end but decided to dismiss it as he walked closely behind Haruka.

"Makoto, can I take a look at the map?" Haruka asked as he turned around.

"S-sure, Haru," Makoto stuttered in reply, handing the map to Haruka.

"The key lies beneath the heart...I hate cheesy riddles," Haruka thought as he looked at the map.

"Ha-Haru!" Makoto yelped as he saw something behind them.

"What is it Mako-" Haruka stopped when he saw a woman holding a bloody knife behind them.

Instantly, Haruka grabbed Makoto's hand and ran for it. All he remembered was that they ran up a flight of stairs, entered the first door they saw and quickly locked it afterwards.

"H-Haru are you alright?" Makoto said holding tightly onto Haruka.

"I'm fine..." Haruka panted as he sighed in relief, "What about you Makoto? Are you hurt?" He asked worriedly.

"I'm okay, Haru," Makoto reassured Haruka as he smiled softly.

Haruka couldn't help but smile in return as he hugged Makoto.

"I'm sorry Makoto for dragging you in this, I should have said no in the first place so you wouldn''t have had to come." Haruka said softly.

"It's okay Haru, I chose to go after all, don't blame yourself ," Makoto said as he returned the hug.

Haruka just smiled after he broke off from the hug before he examined his surroundings.

"Let's just focus on finding the key and getting out of this mansion, okay?" Haruka said softly as he held out his hand

Makoto slowly nodded as he took Haruka's hand. He never expected to be the one pulled up by Haruka. He smiled at the thought of this.

They went outside of the room soon after, back into the hallway, which was now lit up for some reason and the coast seemed clear, so they started to walk around the mansion again.

Makoto wasn't as scared as before, holding Haruka's hand was somehow very comforting to him. No matter how scary some of the rooms may have been, no matter how many times they'd been chased by something, he knew they were going through it together. Makoto was glad that Haruka was always by his side.

Soon, they came across a peculiar room, where everything was heart themed. Heart shaped pillows, heart shaped mirrors, heart shaped lamps and more.

"I guess we found the key..." Makoto said as he picked the key up from under the heart shaped bed.

"Let's go back to the main foyer, it's just down the hallway from here." Haruka said as he looked at the map, "That's also where the exit is."

"Haru..." Makoto mumbled.

Haruka turned around to look at Makoto, "What?"

"Thank you for always being by my side..." Makoto smiled.

"You're saying embarrassing things again..." Haruka mumbled turning away in embarrassment.

* * *

"There they are! Hey Haru-chan! Mako-chan!" Nagisa yelled as he saw them coming out of the mansion.

"Did you guys have fun?" Nagisa asked.

Makoto blushed a bit while Haruka answered with, "It's boring," in his usual deadpan expression.

"Oh...guess what? We won the prize!" Nagisa said in excitement.

"What was the prize?" Makoto asked, now regaining his composure.

"A years supply of chocolate," Rei said as he pushed his glasses.

"But we're giving this to Mako-chan since he's so brave to come here!" Nagisa said before he asked, "You like chocolate don't you Mako-chan?"

"Uh... I do like it.. but you should keep the prize Nagisa, you earned it," Makoto smiled as he tried to turn down the offer.

"No no, Mako-chan is going to have it, just take it as an apology for me forcing you to come with us," Nagisa smiled as he handed the prize to Makoto.

"T-Thanks Nagisa," Makoto smiled, slowly accepting the prize.

Haruka just glanced at Makoto, smiling softly.

By the time they got back to the stairs leading to their homes, it was already pretty late, but they decided to have a little chat before returning home.

"A lot had happened today huh?" Makoto simply said.

"Yeah," Haruka replied.

"Haru, thank you for staying by my side, I should be the one protecting you but it turned out to be the other way instead. I'm sorry," Makoto said softly as if he was about to cry.

"Don't cry, I hate seeing you cry," Haruka said as he wiped off the tears from Makoto's face.

"I love you Makoto," Haruka whispered kissing Makoto gently.

"I love you too Haru," Makoto smiled softly after he broke off from the kiss.

"Happy Halloween, Makoto," Haruka said leaning on Makoto's shoulder.

"Happy Halloween, Haru-chan," Makoto smiled softly leaning back in response.

"_Maybe Halloween isn't so bad after all..." _Makoto thought happily.

* * *

A/N: Since Makoto loves chocolate, I decided to give him a years supply of chocolate since he worked hard for it by going through a haunted mansion. XD  
This was inspired by a post from a Free! fanpage on Facebook, thanks a lot for giving me inspiration!

As said in the summary, I'm not a very experienced writer, so I'm not really good at writing fanfictions. However I'm willing to improve! Thanks guys for taking the time to read this. Happy Halloween!


End file.
